More strikes set to hit schools
Schools across South Lanarkshire are set to close for a further day of pay dispute strikes next month.
Local teachers plan to take their turn in a 16-day national campaign affecting two local authorities at a time.
The programme of industrial action will reach South Lanarkshire on February 3; and now the EIS teaching union has announced that there will be three more days of action in each part of the country later in the term, impacting every school for a further two days each.
Members of the EIS, NASUWT, SSTA and AHDS unions went on strike on last week’s second and third days of the new term in Lanarkshire’s primary and secondary schools respectively, in their second date of national action following November’s historic strike.
Now the largest union has announced plans for a further Scotland-wide strike in“all schools and sectors on February 28 and March 1”– followed by a rolling programme of three days of consecutive impact in each council area between March 13 and April 21.
Specific localised dates for the new strike action in both North and South Lanarkshire are still to be announced by the EIS. Both councils have a two-week Easter holiday in the first fortnight of April, with pupils and staff ending the current term on March 31 and being due to return to classes on April 17.
The three-day strikes in each area of Scotland will focus on primary schools on one day, secondaries on another and all sectors on the middle day; meaning each establishment is likely to be impacted on two consecutive days.
With teachers protesting against “sub-inflationary” offered pay rises of between five and 6.85 per cent, EIS officials called the new March and April plans“an escalation of the dispute”and“a direct response to the inaction of the Scottish Government and Cosla on teacher pay”.
General secretary Andrea Bradley said:“The recent strike action has succeeded in bringing [them] back to the negotiating table, but they have yet to put a single extra penny onto that table.
“The prospect of 22 additional days of strike action, on top of the 16 days of rolling action beginning this week, should signal clearly to the Scottish Government and Cosla that they must now act with urgency – our members are resolute and determined to secure a fair pay settlement which properly reflects their value and also takes account of the soaring cost of living.”
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said in November that there was no available budget for public sector pay rises, saying:“I have nowhere else to go to fund pay deals other than what the government offers.